All That Remains
by Gardener
Summary: Duncan learns some things he might rather not know.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Italics represent Duncan's internal monologue.

December 19, 2005

3:52pm

Duncan Kane pulled his car into the parking lot of Kane Software, turned off the ignition, and hopped out of the car. As he walked toward the building entrance, he realized he was in a better mood than he had been in for a long time.

_Why shouldn't I be though? It's almost like things are back to normal. I mean, not 'normal' in the sense of being the way they were before, before, well, just before. Still, things are sure better than they were after._

Duncan had come to the office directly after school that day to surprise his father, who had just been paroled only three days before.

_I mean, sure, Lilly's still gone, but at least Aaron's in prison where he belongs, and Dad is out of prison. And sure, Veronica's still with Logan, but that probably won't last past the summer, and then_...

As he breezed past security, Duncan felt a momentary pinch of guilt at wishing for the end of Logan and Veronica's romance, but he was not about to let that ruin his good mood.

_Come on, it's not like I'm doing anything to break them up. But let's face it. She and I were both admitted early to Stanford, and I don't think Logan even applied there._

That was one of the other reasons for Duncan's jubilance: he had just received his acceptance letter. He had not told his parents yet, instead going so far as to have the letter sent to a post-office box he had secretly rented in order to make sure that he would find out first. As he stepped into the elevator, he smiled at the thought of his father's reaction to the news.

_And let's face it, even if he did apply there, he's not likely to get in. I mean, I love the guy and everything, but he hasn't exactly been the most exemplary student._

Duncan got off the elevator at the top floor, and headed down the hall to his father's secretary's desk.

_I'm sure he and Veronica will try to make the whole long-distance thing work, but she and I'll have four years together. It's practically inevitable that we'll get back together. I mean, that's how things were meant to be._

"Duncan, I can't believe it! I haven't seen you here in ages!"

"Hi Bethany," Duncan greeted his father's secretary with a smile. "I know it's been a while. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm so happy that your father is back. We've all missed him so much. You must be thrilled."

"You bet. That's why I'm here actually. I thought I'd come over to surprise my dad, welcome him back, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be so happy you came over."

"Great. Do you think you could buzz me into his office without letting him know first? I wouldn't want you to spoil the surprise."

"Oh, Duncan, I'm sorry. Your father's in a meeting. He said he wasn't to be interrupted or disturbed for anything."

"Really? Who's he meeting with?"

"I don't know. It's funny, because there was nothing on his calendar. He just told me not to schedule anything from 3:30 to 5:00." At this point, Bethany leaned forward conspiratorially, and loudly whispered "whoever she is, she must be important, because your father came out here himself to usher her into his office—and you know he never does that—and told me not to let anything disturb them."

_Of course he never does that. "Duncan, always make sure that whenever you're in a meeting or a negotiation, make them come to you. You receive them." Wait, she?_

"You don't happen to know who this woman was, do you?"

"No one I recognized, but the truth is I barely got a look at her, she went right in so fast. And I didn't catch her name. Some blonde lady. You're dad sure seemed eager to see her, though."

If Bethany noticed the grimace that flashed across Duncan's face, she gave no sign. In fact, there was no indication whatever that she realized the significance of what she had just said.

_I can't believe this. Lianne. I guess it makes sense though. I mean, he's been away for a long time, of course he'd want to see his girlfriend. I can't believe he could be so reckless, though, to still be seeing her._

Duncan gave Bethany his most winning smile and put on his most open, trustworthy expression. "Bethany, I'm sure that when my father said not to let anyone disturb him, he hardly had me of all people in mind."

_That's not a lie. In fact, I'm pretty sure he had Mom in mind. Doesn't he care at all about whom he hurts?_

"Well, I don't know…."

"Come on. You know he'll be thrilled I came to see him." Duncan gave another smile, and held his hands up with his palms turned a little toward Bethany.

"Well, alright, but let me just buzz him first…."

"You wouldn't want to ruin my surprise, would you?"

"Oh, okay, I'll just buzz you in without telling him then. But if he asks," another conspiratorial whisper, "Carlotta let you in."

Duncan replied with a wink and a nod. Carlotta was his father's other receptionist. Why he need two was beyond his son's comprehension. Duncan walked through the double doors into his father's office suite.

Jake Kane did not have a simple one room office. Rather, upon passing through the double doors, Duncan found himself in his father's private conference room. A long conference table surrounded by chairs dominated the space; on one wall there was a large flat screen monitor that could also be used as a projector screen for the occasional low-tech presentation. One had to pass through another door on the far wall to reach Jake's actual office. It was toward his father's sanctum sanctorum that Duncan now slowly padded.

Fortunately, Duncan was wearing sneakers, and the carpeting in Jake's office was lushly thick and soft.

_Only the best for my father. It kind of makes me wonder about his choice in mistresses though. I mean, really, an alcoholic who cheats on her husband and steals from her own daughter? That's pretty low-rent, Dad. Now your best buddy Aaron, he had great taste in girlfriends._

Despite the fact that the air conditioners kept the entire office building comfortably cool, Duncan found himself sweating as he crept toward the far side of the room.

What he heard when he pressed his ear to the door turned his face white.

To be continued….


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Italics are Duncan's voiceovers. This story is fictional and all resemblances etc….

December 19, 2005

4:03pm

"First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your father getting his job back, and I wanted to apologize, well, for everything, and to thank you as well."

"I appreciate that Mr. Kane, but I have a feeling that that's not what you really wanted to talk about."

_Veronica? Why the heck is he having a secret meeting with Veronica? _

"You always were very perceptive."

"What can I say? I take after my father."

"Yes, well, I guess I'll come straight to the point. I have a problem, one that requires your…talents."

"Spill."

"How much do you know about data compression?"

"I know how to use most of the popular compression programs, but that's about it. Why?"

"Well, for the last few years, Kane Software has been secretly working on a new method of data compression. We call it Data Express. That's just a working title though. It's significantly more efficient than any of the other applications currently on the market, but that's not its most important feature."

"Okay."

Warming to his subject, Jake continued, "The theory behind data compression is that most data contains a lot of redundancy, or information that isn't really essential. Let me give you an analogy: you could take just about any page from any book in the English language and take out all the vowels, and yet you'd still be able to understand what it was saying, right?"

"I haven't ever tried that, but I suppose so. It's like writing in shorthand."

"Perfect, like writing in shorthand. And once you get used to text like that, you'd be able to read it on sight, without even having to think about it. Computerized data compression is a lot like that. The problem is that your computer can't read the 'shorthand' file. It has to decompress it before it can do anything with it. But what if you had a program, or, more precisely, a procedure, one you could add to other applications, that could read from and write to compressed files just as easily, and just as quickly, as with uncompressed files."

"You'd make data storage much more efficient."

"Yes, but you're thinking too small. You'd make real-time data transfer much more efficient."

"Real-time data transfer? Like streaming video?"

"Exactly. You could send just as much information content over substantially less bandwidth, or alternatively in less time. Even streaming video would be just the beginning though."

"Well, congratulations, Mr. Kane. I can only imagine that this'll make you fabulously rich…er. But even if I had the money to invest in Kane Software, it would now be insider trading, so I don't see what this has to do with me."

_I don't either. Just what are you up to?_

"Ah well, there's the rub. The program isn't quite perfected yet, and about a week ago, one of the top programmers on the project, Calvin Selkirk, left and went to work for a company up in Silicon Valley called VenTech."

"And you think he brought the secrets of Data Express with him."

"Exactly. Of course, he signed our standard nondisclosure agreement, and there are anti-corporate espionage laws about this sort of thing. But there's not much we can do about any of this without proof."

"And you want me to get this proof for you? What exactly would you need?"

"A copy of the algorithm that they're working with. With that, we could prove that they've stolen proprietary information."

"But why me? You've got your own in-house security team."

_Yes, why her, Dad?_

"Well, normally this is the kind of thing that Mr. Weidman would take care of, but—"

"His parole hasn't come through yet. Of course. The law," Veronica emphasized that word to indicate that she did not share its opinion, "looks more harshly on those who commit crimes than on those who pay to have them committed."

"My lawyers promise that he'll be out in just another few months, but obviously that'll be too late, and my wife told me about how well you took care of the whole Montclair thing, and well, I wanted the best."

_Montclair? Kelly Montclair? What does she have to do with any of this? How did Veronica "take care" of her?_

Kelly Montclair was a gossip columnist in L.A. who, after Aaron Echolls' arrest, had begun a series of rather embarrassing stories on the whole affair, and had indicated that she was about to expose some particularly dirty secrets about the Kanes in particular. Then one day she had simply moved on to another matter entirely, and had not brought the subject up ever again.

"Well, the best is going to cost you."

"Understandable. How much are we talking about?"

"Stock options."

"Stock options?"

"You'd want me to have an incentive to do the job right, wouldn't you?"

"And you wouldn't have to worry about insider trading."

"Exactly."

"Fifteen hundred shares? Strike at sixty? One-year holding period?"

"Two thousand. Strike at fifty-five. One year."

"Done."

"Knew I should have asked for more."

"You do this, those options'll be worth more than enough. Here's everything we have on Selkirk and VenTech. When can you start?"

"Tomorrow's the last day of school before the break. I can tell my Dad that I want to go up to Palo Alto to have a look around, figure out where I want to live next year."

"Great. Congratulations again on Stanford."

"Thanks. Pleasure doing business with you."

As Duncan heard their meeting concluding, he raced back out of the office suite, and past Bethany. He considered telling Bethany not to mention that he had been there.

_No, that'll just make her more likely to tell._

"I can't believe I left my car's headlights on," he said instead, giving her a sheepish grin. "I just hope I get there before the battery dies."

"You better hurry then," answered Bethany, smiling and shaking her head.

Duncan hurried out of the building and into the parking lot, and began looking for Veronica's car. Spotting it, he crouched down behind the Jeep that was parked next to it and waited for Veronica to exit the building. When she came out a few minutes later, he waited for her to put the key in her car door before he stepped out from behind the Jeep.

"Hi Veronica."

"What the—" She leapt backwards. "Duncan, you startled me."

"Sorry. So, how did you 'take care' of Kelly Montclair?"

"What? Duncan, were you spying on me?"

Duncan just tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, alright, but I had a reason for what I did. What's your excuse?"

"How about I just want to know what's going on? So what, with Weidman out of the picture, my parents had to pick you to handle their dirty work?"

"That's the way the world works Duncan," she replied resignedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"People like your parents hire people like me to protect their interests. That's how things are."

"You don't have to do this."

"I need the money Duncan."

"Why? Your father's sheriff again, you don't need to—"

"You don't understand; everything I had saved for college is gone."

"What? How?"

"It doesn't make any difference."

"It does make a difference. You shouldn't have to do this."

"You make it sound like I'm doing something wrong. I'm protecting your parents, Duncan. I'm protecting you. Heck, this whole town depends on Kane Software; I'm protecting all of Neptune."

_And who protects you Veronica?_

"Fine, then. I'm going with you."

"You are not."

"Why not?"

"You want the first volume of answers to that question?"

"No. I'll just call Calvin Selkirk and let him know you're coming."

"You wouldn't."

Duncan got out his cell phone. Dialing directory assistance, he asked "I'm looking for a number in…."

"Alright, alright. But even if I said yes, what are you going to tell your parents?"

"I'll just tell them I need a look around Palo Alto, figure out where I'm going to live next year." Duncan gave a small smile.

Veronica's face lit up. The tension between them dropped measurably. "Seriously? Duncan, congratulations. That's wonderful."

"You too."

"Thanks. Alright, but you do what I say, okay?"

"Okay, if you tell me what happened with Kelly Montclair."

To be continued….


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Italics represent Duncan's internal monologue. This story is fictional, and any resemblances etc...So this story has not been generating nearly as much feedback as some of my earlier works, and while the feedback I have gotten has been quite positive, I get the impression that if people don't like a story, they just say nothing rather than give it a negative review. Since I prefer even very negative feedback to no feedback, I hope you will say so if you don't like this story. If you do like this story, I really hope you'll tell me that too. Thanks very much.

December 20, 2005

3:36pm

Duncan tossed Veronica's luggage into the back of his Mercedes. "All set?"

"Just a second." Veronica walked off a few paces with Logan. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, resting her hand on his elbow.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because your girlfriend is going away for several days with her ex who still has feelings for her and whom you worry she still has feelings for too?"

"Okay, so I'm a little jealous. But I trust you. Both of you."

"You know you can, right? Trust us."

"I know. You should get going."

Veronica stood on her toes to kiss him before backing away toward Duncan. As she got into the SUV, Duncan walked over to his best friend.

"Hey, man. You sure this is cool?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"You could come with us, you know?"

"Hmm, let me see. Spend the break in the rain and fog of the Bay, or enjoy the sun and surf of Baja. Hard choice. Go, already. You're running late." With a final wave, Logan turned to go. Duncan rejoined Veronica.

4:06pm

As they cruised up the Pacific Coast Highway in the late afternoon sun, Duncan finally broke the silence that had prevailed since they had left school. "So, are you going to tell me how you 'took care' of Kelly Montclair?"

"There's not much to tell, Duncan," Veronica answered without turning toward him.

"It shouldn't take you long then," he answered, trying to keep the conversation light.

"Look, she was poking around, asking questions about a lot of things, asking questions about us, about why we broke up."

"I know. And?"

"Well, I was concerned she might find out about, well, you know. Your mom was worried too."

"So what did you do?"

"I sent her a fan letter."

"A fan letter? What was in this fan letter?"

"Oh, you know, some clippings from the columns she had written about us and about the whole case, plus a letter telling her how much I loved her work, and how I wanted to be a gossip reporter too someday, and asking if she thought I had any future in the biz; I had also sent some pictures I had taken."

"What sort of pictures?"

"The sort she wouldn't want her husband to see."

"Ah. Doesn't the legislature of this great state consider that, you know, blackmail?"

"That's why I didn't sign the letter Duncan."

"What did you put as the return address?"

"'Phil D. Wrigley, 1060 W. Addison, Chicago, IL 60613.'"

"'Phil D. Wrigley?'" At this, they both burst out laughing. "So which am I, Jake or Elwood?"

"Well I don't know," answered Veronica, struggling to stop laughing long enough to speak. "Can you put away four fried chickens?"

"Not without causing a heart attack. Not to me, mind you, to my mother."

"And her personal trainer."

"Wouldn't want that, now would we?"

The two of them shared another laugh.

"So, if I may turn the conversation to a more serious matter for a moment…."

"Why would you want to do that Donut?"

"Please don't call me that. You know I hate that stupid nickname."

"That's why Lilly always loved to call you that."

"Yeah, I know." They both smiled at that.

"Alright, what serious matter did you want to talk about?"

"I was just curious if you had given any thought to what you wanted to major in at Stanford."

"Are you kidding?"

"See, that's what I'm saying. We're still in high school and my parents are trying to pick out majors for me."

"Ah, I see. Let me guess: economics."

"'After all, sweetie,'" began Duncan, his voice inflected to indicate that he was doing an impression of his parents, "'with a degree in economics, you could go on to law school or business school.'"

"Which your parents see as possible next steps on your road to the White House."

"Exactly. I suppose I should just be grateful that they're willing to consider business school as an option now."

"Well maybe you should study drama."

"Now that would give my mother a heart attack."

"No, I'm serious," rejoined Veronica, whose giggling belied that claim. "Two actors have gone on to become governor of California, and one of them became President."

"That's a good point. Drama it is then." The two of them shared another laugh.

"And I'll be able to tell people I knew you when."

_You'll be there with me, Veronica._

7:16pm

"I'll have four fried chickens and a coke, and he'll have two pieces of dry white toast."

"Huh?"

"What she means is that she'll have the cheeseburger deluxe, and I'll have the turkey club."

"Okay. Anything to drink with that?"

"Coffee, one cream, two sugars."

"Coffee, black."

"I'll be right back with your coffee."

"Taking it straight, at your tender age? You've turned into quite the caffeine addict, I see."

"Well, you know. A girl has to have something to keep her awake on all those late-night stakeouts."

_Right. I should have realized._

After the waitress brought their coffee, they sat in silence, albeit a far more companionable silence than that with which they had begun their trip, as they waited for their food. The two of them had stopped for dinner at a roadside diner off the I-5 just to the southeast of Coalinga. It was only once they had both made a good start at their dinners, that Duncan spoke again. "We seem to be making good time. We should probably be in San Francisco no later than ten-thirty."

"Sounds about right," answered Veronica, taking another bite of her burger.

"What's our game plan once we get there?"

Veronica reflexively gave a surreptitious look around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Well, our boy Selkirk works in Palo Alto but lives in San Francisco. I figure I'll drop by his apartment—" Duncan gave her a sharp look. "We, we'll drop by his apartment and have a look around. If we're lucky, Selkirk likes to work at home and keeps a copy of the file on his computer. Otherwise, we'll have to go VenTech's offices."

"Which will probably have more security."

"Probably, but most of these Silicon Valley office parks are all prefab, so it shouldn't be too hard to get a copy of the complete blueprints. That should make things a bit easier, if it comes to that."

When the check came, they both reached for their wallets.

"Veronica, let me take care of this."

"Don't be silly. Your dad gave me an expense account."

_Why do you have to keep sticking me with that knife?_

"It's all coming from the same place then."

"Ah, but if I expense this, it's a tax write-off for Kane Software."

Duncan glanced again at the check. "I don't think that's really going to make a difference."

"I am nothing if not a conscientious employee." She said it so lightheartedly that Duncan managed to keep a smile on his face.

_And why do you have to keep twisting it too?_

"Veronica, what will people think of me if they see you paying for our meal?"

"The people in here? I don't think it matters much."

"Have it your way."

"I usually do."

7:41pm

They set out again, this time with Veronica driving. They tried the radio, but, not finding anything worth listening to, Veronica asked Duncan what CDs he had brought.

"A bunch of different stuff. Oh, I have a mix that Lilly burned for me for our thirteenth birthday party."

"Well fire that sucker up. That was the most awesome birthday party ever."

"Oh, we're not gonna take it, no we ain't gonna take it," at which point Veronica and Duncan began singing along: "We're not gonna take it anymore!"

10:41pm

The two of them had just picked up the keys for their two adjoining rooms at a hotel called the Mosser in the financial district. As they got into the elevator, Duncan asked, "so why'd you pick this place?"

"The only other place I could find that you could get a room for under $80 a night that wasn't a complete fleabag was out near the airport. This place is right in the middle of town, and it has wireless DSL access throughout the hotel."

_Always business with you. At least I'll know better than to fight with you over the bill this time. Well, if we're on an expense account, we might as well enjoy it._

"So, their selection of movies leaves something, by which I mean great deal, to be desired," said Duncan, leafing through the hotel brochure, "but we could watch _The Lost Commandos_."

"Aaron Echolls' last picture?" Veronica answered with mock excitement. "Also starring Conner Larkin?"

"Well, I know what an Echolls fan you are."

"Maybe some other time. We've got to get an early start tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"Course. You're right. See you in the morning."

_I keep trying to forget that this is a business trip for you._

To be continued….


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Italics are Duncan's internal monologue.

December 21, 2005

7:01am

Veronica and Duncan left very early in the morning and headed over to Selkirk's place, parking across the street. Selkirk's building was an eight-story postwar apartment building, of the kind with a single unit per floor, without a doorman.

"So what are we waiting for anyway?"

"For Selkirk to leave for work."

"How do we know he'll be going to work? I mean, maybe he has off for the holidays or something."

"Well, if VenTech is in a race with Kane Software to get this killer app to market, do you really think they'd have their top programmer taking off for the holidays?"

"Good point. I remember my mom telling us how she barely saw Dad for the three months they were finishing the development of streaming video."

"Uh, yeah."

"Oh man, you're right. I just realized. I have to go wash my brain out now."

"Save me some bleach."

"Wait, I think that's him."

"Yeah, but he's walking his dog, so he's probably not heading to work just yet."

"Wait, if he has a dog, isn't that going to be a problem as far as getting into the apartment?"

"Leave that to me."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"'Who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?'"

"Ha ha. Let's just hope the force is with us."

7:32am

By this point, Selkirk had returned from walking his dog, and was just exiting the building.

"Okay, he's getting into his car, so we'll go as soon as he's out of sight. Okay, let's move."

As they crossed the street, Duncan asked "so are we just going to try buzzing up to random apartments and hope someone let's us in?"

"No, we'll just unlock the door."

"Do you have a key?"

Veronica just snorted. "Just stand in the doorway and try to block the view from the street, so just be as wide as possible."

Once they reached the doorway, Veronica fished her burglar's tools out of her purse and, in only about a minute, picked the lock.

"Do you think anyone saw us?"

"No, I was pretty wide."

"Okay, let's go. We'll take the stairs, less likely to run into anyone that way."

Once they were inside the stairwell, Veronica handed Duncan a pair of surgical gloves and put another pair on herself.

"Why didn't we put these on before?"

"Because it would have been like carrying signs that said 'burglars.'"

"Of course."

Once they reached the sixth floor, Veronica examined the door to Selkirk's apartment.

"Crap. Medeco."

"Medeco? What's Medeco?"

"Medeco locks. This guy's got a deadbolt and a regular latch, both Medeco."

"Okay, I still don't know what that means."

"Regular locks, like the one on the door downstairs, consist of a cylinder you have to turn to open the latch, but there are pins through the cylinder that block it from turning. There are gaps in the pins that will allow the cylinder to turn, but each pin is a different length, so you have to push each one down just the right amount to turn the cylinder, which is what the key does."

"Or what you do. So what's up with Medeco locks?"

"Medeco keys," said Veronica, fishing her own keychain out of her pocket to demonstrate, "are cut with angles in the teeth, as you can see."

"Sure."

"That's because the pins are angled. So you don't just have to push the pins the right distance, you have to push them at exactly the right angle, which is all but impossible without the key. Makes Medeco locks virtually pick-proof. This guy is serious about keeping people out of his apartment."

"How inconsiderate of him to try to protect his property. So what do we do then?"

"I said virtually."

As Veronica began working on the deadbolt, the dog began barking from within the apartment.

"Aren't you worried someone'll hear the dog barking?"

"What if they do? They'll probably just figure he found a mouse or something. Barking dogs are like car alarms. No one pays any attention."

8:04am

The deadbolt clicked open. "Yes, finally!" Veronica wiped her forehead on her sleeve and, putting down her lock picks, she interlaced her fingers and pushed her hands away from her body, cracking her knuckles. Shaking her hands out, she asked Duncan "so how long was that anyway?"

"About half an hour."

"Not bad, if do say so myself."

"The regular latch will be easier, right?"

"Nope. The only difference between a latch and a deadbolt is that the deadbolt pretty much has to be picked, a latch you can just drill through. But since we're trying not to leave signs that we broke in…."

"Right."

8:41am

Veronica turned the latch. Just as she opened the door a crack, the dog, who had been barking the entire time, began nosing her way out the door, trying to bite the intruders.

"Duncan, take the knob, don't let the door close again."

Veronica began fishing in her pocket for a small plastic bag. Removing a few brownish cubes from the bag, she instructed Duncan to open the door just a crack, and then tossed the cubes inside. A few minutes later, the dog fell silent. Duncan gave her an inquisitive look.

"Liver treats, Backup loves them. Of course, I don't usually lace his with quite so much temazepam."

"Temazepam?" Duncan asked as they crept into the apartment. "Where'd you get that?"

"The pharmacy."

"Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

"No, why?"

"How'd you get a prescription for temazepam then?"

"I just lifted a few sheets from Dr. Levine's prescription pad at my last checkup."

"Of course you did. You also forged his signature?"

"Oh, that was the easy part. See, he pressed down hard enough on the previous sheet to leave an impression of his signature on the next sheet. I just traced along it, hard enough to make another impression on the sheet below that."

"Brilliant. How'd you know you'd need temazepam?"

"I got a couple of different medications. You never know what you might need, so it pays to always be prepared."

"You're like a girl scout. Is the dog going to die?"

"Don't be silly," answered Veronica, leaning down to stroke the now slumbering terrier mix behind her ears. "She's just going to have a nice long nap." With that, she headed further into the apartment.

"So do you think he's just got the file open on his desktop?"

"Well let's have a look," answered Veronica, sitting at Selkirk's desk. Duncan leaned over her shoulder. Selkirk had left his computer on, but in sleep mode; Veronica moved the mouse to wake it. Examining the programs menu, she said "This isn't very encouraging. Kane software was working with the algorithm in C, but I don't see C or any other programming languages here. No C, no Assembler, nada. Let me try looking in the hard drive."

"If there's nothing there, try the documents menu; it might be there if he's worked on it recently."

"Hmm, mostly just mp3s and porn."

"Lovely."

"I'm going to take a wild guess that he mostly just uses his home computer for entertainment, email, and web-browsing. Let's try checking his email though."

"I doubt it'd be there."

"No, but we might something else useful. Rats. I had hoped he had one of those things where the program automatically remembered the username and password, but no such luck."

"Well, you should be able to get the username easily enough."

"Sure," answered Veronica, reaching into her purse for a manila folder. "Part of the file your dad gave me was various emails Selkirk had sent. Ahh, here we go."

"But how do we get the password?"

"Let me show you a trick a little blue-crested birdie taught me."

"Opening up the keyboard buffer?" Duncan asked as he watched what Veronica was doing.

"Exactly. I'm impressed."

"I do happen to know a few computer experts."

"Let's see, it looks like his password is 6lg0d$q. And we're in."

"Anything promising? Doesn't look like there's anything unread."

"No, but here's one from I guess that must be his sister Linda."

"What's it say?"

"'Cal, please be careful. I'm really worried about what you're doing. I read in the papers about this Jake Kane, and that goon of his. You don't get to be as rich as Jake Kane without being pretty ruthless, and I'm worried he might send someone after you. He probably has plenty of pretty rough customers working for him.' Did you hear that? I'm a 'rough customer.'"

"Everyone's afraid of you."

"That's how I like it."

_I'm getting to be afraid of you. You pick locks, you forge prescriptions, you drug dogs. You're like a criminal or something._

"Nothing here that really looks useful. Some work-related stuff, but they only refer to the project—if that is what they're referring to—in the most vague terms. His web-browser history isn't much help either."

"More porn?"

"'Fraid so." Veronica put the computer back to sleep.

"Now what?"

"Well," said Veronica, as she got out of the desk-chair and crouched down by the side of the desk to begin rummaging through the garbage can, "We could try tapping his phone line."

"I don't think his phone line is in the garbage can."

"Really? But his phone bill might be. See?"

"What?"

"There's virtually nothing on it. And look, the phone's practically buried under a pile laundry."

"Practically everything in this apartment is buried under a pile of something."

"Yeah, but the point is, I get the distinct impression that he uses his cell phone as his primary, maybe even only, phone line. So there's probably not much sense wasting a bug on his land line." Veronica went back to rooting through the garbage. "Ah, see, here. His cell phone bill. Much more informative."

"Whom did he call?"

"That's not what so interesting. Look."

"So he gets Bluetooth. That's hardly surprising for a computer programmer."

"No, but it's very helpful for a private eye. Come on, we've got we need. Let's head over to his office."

10:37am

On the drive over to Palo Alto, Duncan glanced over at Veronica, who was staring out the window.

_When did you become like this? This whole badass super-spy detective thing, it's so, so different. I wonder how much of it's my fault. If I hadn't dumped you, if I'd been there for you after Lilly died, if I had defended you when everyone started trashing your reputation, if I hadn't run off that morning, maybe you'd still be more like you used to be. I guess a lot of it's my fault. If, if, if. I love you so much, but I was such a lousy boyfriend. So much for love being all you need._

"So, what are you thinking about?" he asked her.

"Just making a plan for when we get there."

To be continued….


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: First, let me just apologize for taking so long to update this story. This chapter was difficult to write, however, and I ended up doing a lot more revision than I normally do, and I'm still not sure I'm satisfied with how it turned out. So please be as brutal as you think necessary in your reviews. I'd also like to thank those who have reviewed it heretofore. Rhapsodyenigma, I think the reason it might not be getting lots of reviews is that I'm cross-posting it at livejournal, and a lot of people are reviewing it there instead of here. But I'm grateful for all reviews, wherever they're posted, so thank you all. Again, italics are Duncan's thoughts.

11:26am

The VenTech office building was a four-story metal-and-glass structure on the outskirts of Palo Alto. After they arrived, Duncan parked just down the block at an angle from which they could see the building's main entrance.

"Now what?"

"Just a second," replied Veronica, turning around in her seat and reaching into the back of the Mercedes for her duffel bag. She withdrew from it what looked like nothing so much as an assault rifle with a rocket-propelled grenade attached to the front.

_So either your plan is for us to blow in the door and shoot our way in to get the file, which I wouldn't put past you right now, or_...

"Is that one of those Bluetooth rifles?"

"Uh-huh. I have to say, it's made my job so much easier. I used to have to figure out ways to plant a bug or a camera on someone, but now, people carry them around for me. I just need to hack into them with this puppy." She trained the rifle on the building.

"You'd better be careful then. You wouldn't want to rely too much on fancy toys and let your skills get rusty. You might start getting soft."

"Wouldn't want that."

_I might._

"And we're in. Ooh, and look, he has a digital camera on his cell phone too."

Putting down the rifle, Veronica called up the feed on her laptop. Judging from the angle, Selkirk seemed to keep his cell phone in his shirt pocket, which gave them a reasonably good view of what he was working on. The sound was good, although there was not much to hear, mostly just Selkirk typing and occasionally mumbling to himself as he worked.

Looking at what was on Selkirk's screen, Duncan asked "does that look like the Data Express thing we're looking for?"

"I think so. The name of the file at the top of the window looks like it says 'FastFile,' but I'm not enough of an expert on C to be sure just based on what we can see here."

"Didn't my dad give you something to identify the code with?"

"He told me what to look for, but I still need to see more of it to be certain."

"Still, once we're sure this is it, shouldn't this be enough?"

"What do you mean?"

"This footage'll prove that Selkirk's working on a file he stole from Kane Software, and that'll be enough for the lawyers, right? We can just go."

"Your dad said he wanted a copy of the code."

"So how do you plan to get it?"

"First, I plan to keep watching, just to make sure that this is what he's working on. If it is, hopefully when he goes to lunch or whatever, he'll log out and have to log back in when he comes back. That'll give us the file location and the password—I'm assuming it's encrypted somehow, and that the security is tough enough that I won't just be able to get the password out of the keyboard buffer."

1:04pm

Selkirk had gone to lunch at just a few minutes before noon. By that point, Veronica had confirmed that 'FastFile' was definitely 'DataExpress,' and had seen which folder it was located in on Selkirk's hard drive. Now that he was finally returning from lunch, Veronica hoped to get the password too. Selkirk sat back down at his desk and opened data express. When he typed in the password at the prompt, the only thing displayed on the screen were asterisks.

"Okay," said Veronica, rewinding the image to just before Selkirk logged in, and zooming in on the keyboard, "let's see what you typed."

"Okay, I think that was a 'd' then a '6.'"

"No, I think it was a caret, not a '6.'"

"It was a '6.' The shift-key was to make the 'h' capital."

"That was a 'g,' not an 'h,' and it was lowercase."

1:14pm

"Okay, it's either 'dh2Pf8,' or 'dh2Of8,' agreed?"

"As far as I can tell."

"That's fine then. I can just try both."

"Yeah, but how are you going to get into his office? The lock requires an electronic keycard, and you'd have to avoid being seen going in."

In answer, Veronica pointed to the top of the screen which was still displaying the image coming from Selkirk's cell-camera. The ceiling consisted of the white particle-board square tiles typical of office buildings. In place of two of the square tiles were fluorescent light fixtures, and in place of one was a beige air-conditioning vent.

"You have got to be kidding."

"Not at all. Listen and learn." Veronica dialed a number on her cell phone. "Yes, hi. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor. My name's Katie Butler, I'm a student at UC Berkeley, and I'm doing interdisciplinary studies in architecture and sociology, and, long story short, I'm working on a paper on the semiotics of post-industrial labor spatialities, and….Yes, that's right. The semiotics of post-industrial labor spatialities. Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me who built your office building. Sure, I'll hold."

"The semiotics of post-industrial labor spatialities?"

Veronica just gave a shrug. "Yes, hi. The Northern California Construction Company? You wouldn't happen to have their phone number, would you? Thanks, I appreciate it a lot. Say, do you think there's any chance I might be able to stop by your office sometime? Oh, just to have a look around; I'm doing research for my paper, and I just want to get an idea of how you're using the space. Yes, but that's precisely what I want to look at: it's the problematique of how 'normality' is being continually redefined. Oh, the sooner the better, but late tomorrow morning would be best for me. No, I wouldn't need a tour guide or anything. That's perfectly fine; it's the common areas that I most want to see anyway. 11:30 tomorrow? Katie Butler. That's right. Perfect. You're a real life saver. Thanks, you too."

"Now what?"

"Now we get the blueprints to the building."

"Is the Northern California Construction Company just going to give them to us?"

"I don't see why not." Veronica dialed another number into her phone.

"Hi, is this the Northern California Construction Company? Do you do prefab office construction? Great, just what I was looking for. You wouldn't happen to have a catalogue or anything like that, would you? You do? Does it contain all the complete design specs? Perfect. Do you think I could get a copy? As a pdf file? Great. Thanks very much."

"Wow. That was easier than I expected."

"Impressed, huh?"

"Amazed."

_At how easily you lie. _

"Wait, Veronica, what are you going to do if they ask to see some I.D. for this Katie Butler?"

"I'll show them my Berkeley I.D. card."

"It's a flawless forgery, I imagine."

"It'll do."

_Of course it will._

"So what are our plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well, we should probably head back to the city now. I'd like to stop by a hardware or office supply store and pick up some poster-board and a tape measure, make sure I'll be able to fit through the ventilation shafts. After that, we could do some sightseeing."

"That sounds nice. I hear they've held over the Edgar Arceneaux exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through the end of December. Do you think you'd like to go?"

"Why not? I'd like to develop a taste for modern art."

"Well, if you see something you like, maybe you could steal it."

Veronica laughed and punched Duncan lightly on the shoulder.

3:47pm

The two of them stared up at Robert Bechtle's 'Alameda Gran Torino.'

"What do you suppose inspired him to paint a station wagon?" Veronica asked.

"I don't know. It's beautiful, though, isn't it? I mean, it's a completely ordinary object in a completely ordinary setting, I mean, you could walk by that exact car in that exact driveway in real life and you'd never notice it, right? But something about it—"

"Made him want to do a portrait of it. Because there's something special about it," Veronica finished.

"Exactly." The two of the looked at in silence for another few moments before moving on to the next painting.

"Now, this one I don't get at all," protested Veronica as she looked at de Koonig's 'Untitled XXII.'

Duncan smiled. "Do you remember when we went to the MoCA in L.A.?"

"Of course. That was our fourth date."

"You were practically angry at some of the paintings, do you remember?" Duncan smiled as Veronica blushed just a little. "You kept asking 'but what is this supposed to mean?'"

"Okay, so maybe abstract art is not exactly my forte, okay? I admit it. Like I said, I'm trying to develop a taste for it. Anyway, I recall we still had a good time that day."

_Our first kiss._

"Maybe you did. I was just terrified you were going to smack me or gag or I was going to do it all wrong."

"You did okay. That's how I like to remember it, anyway." They both laughed at that. "Seriously, though, what is this supposed to be? I mean, it kind of looks like a horse. A blue horse."

"Why does it have to be anything?"

"What is it, then? Just a glorified doodle?"

"Maybe."

_You always did have to have The Answer. Maybe you're not so completely different after all._

6:51pm

The two of them sat perusing the menu in Ana Mandara, a Vietnamese restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf just off Polk Street.

"I could not possibly decide. Everything sounds delicious."

"I think I'll have the seared lobster with black risotto."

"That does sound good. I think I'll have the roasted duck breast. I've never had poached banana blossoms before; in fact, I didn't know you could eat a banana blossom, but I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Maybe we should toast to new beginnings."

"As opposed to old beginnings? Anyway, if we're going to be toasting anything, we'll need some wine," said Veronica as she picked up the wine list.

"Uh, Veronica," Duncan whispered, "I didn't bring any fake I.D. with me on this trip."

"Here," replied Veronica as she passed him a small card. "I'm sure it's much better than whatever you had anyway."

Before he pocketed it, Duncan looked at the card she had handed him. It was a California driver's license for Duncan Kane, but claimed he had been born in 1983. Otherwise, it was perfect.

"I can see why Logan likes you."

"Logan doesn't drink anymore. You know that."

"I know, but that's not what I meant."

"Well then," answered Veronica with just a bit of a flourish, "don't be so mysterious. Whatever did you mean?"

"Come on, you know he's always had a thing for, you know, bad girls."

Veronica's smile instantly became a scowl. "I can't believe you Duncan. You, of all people. You actually believe what everyone says about me?" Her voice was quiet and steady, but her fury was no less audible for all that.

"No, no," answered Duncan frantically, "that's not what I meant at all. Of course I know all that stuff isn't true. I could never believe that about you. I didn't mean it like that."

Veronica relaxed just a little. "What did you mean?"

"I just meant that you used to always be the one who never wanted to break any of the rules. It drove Lilly crazy." At that, they both smiled, and the tension drained out of Veronica's face. "And now, well, just look at you."

"I've changed a lot since we used to go out."

"I know, believe me."

"Is that why you wanted to come with me, Duncan? To see me in action? To see if somewhere underneath it all I was still the old Veronica? Your Veronica?"

_Yes._

"No. I mean, yes, I did want to see you 'in action,' as you put it, but it's not that I was trying to get us back together or something like that."

"What was it then?"

"Ahh, I don't know. It's just that, well, we're all different now, but you…." Duncan trailed off.

"Did He who made the lamb make me? Is that what you're asking?"

"I guess so, yes."

"I don't know Duncan."

"I think so."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, sure, there are times when I look at you when you're, you know, breaking and entering or, I don't know, forging documents, and I wonder, 'who is that girl?' But sometimes…."

"I still seem like the innocent little naïf?"

"No. Sometimes, I think back, and I realize, you were always a tiger, you just used to be a cub."

"Red satin."

"Huh?"

"Before our first Homecoming, when I showed Lilly my dress, she insisted I should have been wearing strapless red satin."

"I noticed that is what you wore last year."

"Got your attention, huh?"

"Uh, yeah." They both smiled. "But as I remember it, that pink number you wore in ninth grade wasn't all that innocent."

"Oh no?"

"I seem to recall it was missing the lower back."

"Well, I'm glad someone noticed that."

"Oh, I wasn't the only one who noticed." The two of them laughed easily at that. "Okay, I think we need to order now." He waved their waitress over.

To be continued….


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Well, here we are at the end. Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed this story. I hope you all enjoy the conclusion. Italics are still Duncan's thoughts.

December 22, 2005

10:31am

Duncan and Veronica had checked out of the Mosser first thing that morning, and now once again stood parked outside the VenTech office-building in Palo Alto.

"Do you want to go over the plan again?"

"It's simple Duncan. I show up a little before 11:30 to 'have a look around.' When I'm on the third floor, I go to use the bathroom. I make sure that it's empty, and then I climb up through the ventilation shaft in the ceiling—"

"How are you going to get up into the ceiling? It's ten feet up and in the middle of the bathroom."

"Easy. I just have to climb on top of the door on the middle toilet stall and swing it open. I should be able to reach the vent that way."

_If you don't break your neck._

"Anyway, then I crawl through the shaft thirty feet forward and then ten feet to the right, and that'll put me right over Selkirk's office. With any luck, he'll leave for lunch right around noon again, and I just have to drop down into his office, access his computer using the password we have—"

"Assuming we have it right."

"I'm pretty sure one of the ones we have is the right one. Anyway, then I burn the file onto a CD, log back out, head back through the ventilation shaft to the bathroom, make sure the bathroom is empty, drop back down into it, and walk out of the building with no one the wiser."

"You've got your walkie-talkie with the earpiece?"

"Of course. Do you want to do another sound check?"

"Yes." After verifying that Duncan would be able to remain in radio contact with Veronica once she entered the ventilation shaft, Duncan asked "so what if something goes wrong?"

"Like what?"

"Well, what if neither password works?"

"Then I leave and we try again."

"What if they catch you?"

"Well, I'll try to talk them into believing that I was just playing a prank, and they'll just throw me out of the building, but if not—"

"Then what?"

"Well, if they call the police, call a lawyer."

"What if they don't call the police? What if these guys are more serious than that?"

"I highly doubt that."

"You've been wrong before though."

"Then you call the police."

"What if they don't get here in time?"

Veronica gave him a gentle smile. "Duncan, we're not dealing with Aaron this time."

"I know, but still…."

"Here," she said, reaching back into her duffel bag and passing him a Beretta pistol. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Not really."

"Okay, you hold it in your right hand and you support it with your left. You only ever put your finger on the trigger when you're going to fire, understand? Now, you aim by lining up the rear and front sites with the target, so all three points are on one line, got it? It's got a maximum range of about fifty meters, which should be more than enough inside a building. Keep your elbows bent and your arms relaxed, breathe steadily. This is the safety. Right now it's on, now it's off, back on. It carries fifteen rounds; here're two extra magazines. It's semi-automatic, so it'll fire one round every time you depress the trigger. It's only nine millimeters, so it doesn't have that much stopping power, so you'll want to put at least two or three rounds into someone to make sure he's down."

"Do I need to cock it or anything like that?"

"Only on the first shot of a magazine. You just pull this hammer back until it clicks. You don't have to though; it's double- or single-action, so it'll still fire if you don't. Cocking it on the first shot makes it easier to aim, but again, that only matters for the first shot, so maybe you don't want to worry about that. The recoil'll automatically recock it each shot after the first."

"Okay, so what do I do with it then?"

"Simple, if anything goes really wrong, and I mean really wrong, come and get me."

"Maybe you should take it."

"No, because if I do get caught, it's far more likely that they'll call the police, and if I'm caught armed, that's an aggravating factor on anything they charge me with. But don't worry. Everything's going to go fine."

_Why does that fail to reassure me?_

12:46pm

"I can't believe it was that easy," said Duncan as they drove out of Palo Alto.

"Why are you so surprised?" asked Veronica, as she inserted the CD into her laptop.

"I don't know. In the movies, whenever someone has a plan that involves crawling through the ventilation shafts, something always goes wrong, and River Phoenix has to jump out of the ceiling to save Robert Redford."

Veronica laughed. "Duncan, this isn't a movie, this is real life. See, in the movies, something has to go wrong so that there's drama."

"Thanks, because I didn't understand that. What are you doing with that CD anyway?"

"I'm going to email the file to your dad. Cell reception's pretty good around here, and the file's not actually all that large, so I should be able to get it to him now. He probably wants it as soon as possible."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"We've still got another week and a half off from school. I say we go enjoy the sun and the surf of Baja."

"Sounds like a plan," said Duncan with a smile.

"Ooh, look, your dad's emailed me back already: 'Well done. I'm very impressed. I've had the options transferred to your account. This could be the beginning of a very beneficial partnership.'"

_Wonderful. It's not right Veronica. He shouldn't be making you into one of the help, someone who cleans up our messes._

Duncan noticed that Veronica was plotting something on a spreadsheet. "What are you doing now?"

"Oh, just figuring out how badly I'm going to get reamed by the taxes."

"How badly are you going to get reamed?"

"Let's just say that Uncle Sam is a little bit better endowed than I'm comfortable with."

"Okay, you're going to have to drive the rest of the way to Mexico, because I have to pull over and gouge my eyes out now."

"That was a rather disturbing image, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and I would know."

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"It's too late now."

"You have such pretty eyes though."

"Well, when you put it that way. Seriously, though, how bad is the damage?"

"Depending on how much the stock goes up in value, I should have enough left over to pay for four years at Stanford."

_And you'll be out from under his—our thumb._

"That's terrific."

"I know. I really didn't want to have to join the Army, but it was looking like it might have been the only way for me to afford school."

"Don't you have to be at least this high," said Duncan, holding his hand just above Veronica's head, "to join the Army?"

"Making fun of my height. Clever."

"I just work with what you give me."

January 5, 2006

12:09pm

Veronica and Wallace sat down to lunch at their usual table in the courtyard on the first day back at school.

"So, Veronica, how was your break? Did you decide which dorm you want to live in next year?"

"I'm still mulling it over. How about you? How was your break?"

"Are you kidding? I feel like I need another break now. Coach had us training around the clock."

"Well, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it."

"How about Duncan? Did he decide where he wants to live?"

"I'm not—"

Duncan himself just then walked out into the courtyard, but before he could cross to his customary seat at the 09er table, the courtyard, especially the 09ers, burst into applause. Duncan, a mystified look on his face, walked over to Veronica.

"Hey, Wallace. Hey, Veronica, do you know what's going on? Did I do something?"

"Don't look at me."

"Dude, come on," exclaimed Dick Casablancas, gesturing for Duncan to sit between him and Logan. As Duncan slowly walked back over to them, Veronica got up to follow him.

"What's going on?" asked Duncan.

"Dude, don't act like you don't know," answered Dick.

"Yeah, seriously," concurred Logan with a smile.

"It's not an act. What's going on?"

"Dude, look," said Dick, opening up the web-browser on his laptop to a business-news site.

The headline read: "Kane is Back!" Below that the article announced that Kane Software had, following the recent release from prison of its president, founder, and single largest stockholder, Jake Kane, once again revolutionized the world of computing with the release of its latest 'killer app,' Data Expressions. The article went on to explain that this new software would almost certainly be worth billions for the company, and that Kane Software stock had already surged on the news.

"Wait a second," whispered Duncan to Veronica. "How could they have released it so quickly? Shouldn't there have been some big lawsuit with VenTech or something? Isn't that what you were gathering evidence for?"

"That's the way your dad explained it to me."

"Oh no. Veronica, VenTech wasn't stealing it from Kane Software. Kane Software stole it from VenTech."

"Actually," Veronica whispered back, "I stole it from VenTech."

"Of course," answered Duncan bitterly. "'The law looks more harshly on those who commit crimes than on those who pay to have them committed.'"

"This could be the end of a very beneficial partnership."

_Are you kidding Veronica? He'll never let you go now. You just made your bones._

"Guys, what's the matter?" asked Logan. "You don't seem happy about this."

Duncan dashed for the parking lot.

"What's with him?"

"Come on Logan, we have to go after him." They ran to the parking lot, only to see Duncan's Mercedes already peeling out.

"Come on, we'll take my car," yelled Logan, running for his X-Terra. "You want to tell me what's going on? Where's he going?" he asked as the two of them strapped in and Logan turned the ignition.

"Probably his father's office."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"I'll explain on the way."

12:24pm

When they arrived at Kane Software's parking lot, they saw Duncan's SUV parked near the door to the lobby. They ran to the entrance, where the security guard stopped them. "Excuse me, but do you two have an appointment with someone in the building?"

"Did the guy who came in here before us have an appointment?" asked Veronica.

"The boss' son doesn't need an appointment," the guard said in a tone that bespoke immense self-satisfaction.

"So call the cops on us," answered Logan, rushing past him. Veronica ran after him as he passed the elevator bank and shouldered open the fire-door to the stairwell. Fortunately, the guard was out of shape, and the two of them were quickly able to outdistance him on the stairs. They finally reached the top floor and ran toward Jake's office, stopping at Bethany's desk.

"Bethany," asked Veronica breathlessly, "is Duncan here?"

"Miss Mars, Mr. Echolls, do either of you have an appointment?"

"Where's Duncan?" repeated Logan, trying to raise his voice while panting.

"He just went in to see his father. Why?"

"You have to let us in now," answered Logan, and something in his voice, or perhaps something in his eyes, persuaded Bethany that she did have to let them in now, and she buzzed the door open for them. The two of them ran in.

When they reached Jake's office, they found Duncan strangling his father.

"Duncan, stop!" yelled Veronica, but Duncan was beyond hearing.

Logan dashed forward and, locking his best friend in a half-nelson, pulled him off of his father. Duncan thrashed around in Logan's arms.

"Logan, he's having an epilapse," cried Veronica.

Logan put his left forearm in Duncan's mouth as Duncan bit down. The suede of his jacket-sleeve protected Logan somewhat, but he nonetheless gritted his teeth against the pain. He held his trembling best friend and whispered in his ear. "Come on, DK, come back to us." After a few more moments, Duncan went limp in his arms.

"Is he alright?" asked Jake, coughing and rubbing his throat.

"I think so," answered Logan, still holding Duncan's now still form, but relaxing his grip. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live. We have got to stop meeting this way Logan."

"Maybe if you stopped doing this, this wouldn't keep happening," said Duncan, coming back to himself.

"Duncan, it's not worth it," sighed Veronica.

"What is the matter?" asked Jake. "Why are you so upset?"

"Why Veronica, Dad? Why did it have to be her? Couldn't you have exploited someone else?"

"What are you talking about Duncan?"

"You could have found a thousand other people do your dirty work for you. Why did it have to be her?"

"To be honest, I don't think there are nearly that many people who can do what she does."

"You could still have found someone else. For that matter, you could have just been honest in the first place. But it wasn't enough for you to steal, you had to drag her into it too."

"Steal? What are you talking about? I didn't steal anything."

"Oh, don't even try it. I know you had Veronica steal that file from VenTech."

"I had her take it back from VenTech."

"Please. Where was the lawsuit, Dad? Why didn't you sue them?"

"They don't have enough money to be worth suing."

"What?"

"Even if Selkirk did finish the program after he left Kane Software, it doesn't matter. Under his contract, it still belonged to us. But since Veronica got it to us before they were ready to release it, it made more sense for us to release it first, rather than wait for them to release it and then sue them."

"Wait, she didn't steal it from them? You were telling the truth all along?"

"Of course I was telling the truth, Duncan. I'm no thief."

"Mr. Kane, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for him to find out, and then when he saw the news—"

"It's fine Veronica. It's not your fault. I'm afraid I haven't given my son every reason to trust me implicitly. Thank you both for getting here when you did, but maybe you should let me talk to my son alone for a minute."

"Alright," said Logan, taking Veronica by the arm.

Duncan sat next to his father at the edge of Jake's desk. "Dad, I'm sorry, but why did it have to be her?"

"Duncan, what do you mean? I told you I didn't have her do anything wrong."

"That's not the issue."

"What is the issue, then?"

"She's not one of the employees, Dad." Duncan's voice was breaking. "She's not a tool for you to use. Why couldn't you have found someone else?"

"Duncan, I'm sorry, but I was trying to help her out. You know she needs the money."

"It's not right." Duncan was weeping now.

"Duncan, I know you love her. Look at it this way, with the money she's going to make from these stock options, she'll be able to afford Stanford, and the two of you will have four years together. You'll never have a better chance to get her back."

"It's not right."

"Duncan," said Jake, putting his arms around his son, "that's the way the world works."

The end.


End file.
